


Aquarium

by RedTeamShark



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Author Chose Not To Tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-20
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2019-09-12 04:21:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16866028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedTeamShark/pseuds/RedTeamShark
Summary: Ray learns about fish. Joel and Adam take him to the aquarium. Somehow they’re even surprised when chaos ensues.





	Aquarium

**Author's Note:**

> Proper warnings, tags, etc, may come in the future. For the time being I'm frantically transferring my content to a stable platform amidst growing concerns about tumblr's inevitable implosion.
> 
> Apologies for flooding the fandom page.

Ray learned early on that his dad was forgiving of him getting into a little trouble. If he wore his brand new sneakers to school and came home with them muddy because it rained, his dad actually  _understood_  how appealing mud puddles were to jump in. If he tried to get his own juice and dropped a glass, his dad understood that sometimes glasses were slippery and would laugh it off, saying he’d rather have a broken glass than a broken kid as he checked Ray over for cuts.

 He was used to getting in a little trouble, because he was a curious boy with a tendency to react to things in an exaggerated way (something that his papa told him he’d picked up from his dad by osmosis, whatever that meant). Sometimes things broke or got dirty or got lost for a long time as a result of this, but his dad understood and he was rarely in big trouble.

Then Dad and Papa took him to the aquarium.

–

It was meant to be a regular family trip, of course, like all of their outings. A Saturday afternoon at the aquarium because Ray had come home from school excitedly waving a picture of fish that he’d colored and shouting “FIIIIIIIISH” at the top of his lungs (he said that that was the proper way to say it according to his friend Gavin, and nothing Joel or Adam said could convince him otherwise). Over dinner the two men had run through a silent conversation of eye contact over Ray’s head as he ate and talked and tried not to choke on both activities at once. Finally, Joel offered his son a smile, reaching over and ruffling his hair affectionately.

“ _Dad_.” Ray protested immediately, though he grinned.

“You want to see some more fish this weekend?” Joel offered.

Ray’s eyes widened. He looked from his dad to his papa, as if making sure that the offer was genuine. Adam nodded slightly in agreement. Turning back to Joel, Ray nodded eagerly. “Yes yes yes yes  _yes_  please can we oh please can we Dad I’ll be extra good I’ll clean my room this week and I’ll eat all of my vegetables and not make you eat all of yours and—“

“We can go.” Joel laughed slightly, glancing down at his dinner and casually pushing the rest of his peas under his napkin. “No vegetables required.”

Ray was silent for a beat, taking in the information. He squealed suddenly, clapping his hands, gratitude spilling from his mouth almost faster than the words could become coherent. He stopped abruptly, eyeing his dad’s plate. “Dad. Eat your peas or you’ll never grow big and strong like Papa.”

Adam snorted and almost choked on his milk. Joel only crossed his arms and slumped in his chair.

Friday night it had been almost impossible to get Ray to sleep, the youngster asking for glass after glass of water until Adam told him that if he drank much more he’d wet the bed and Joel whispered that if he drank all the water there wouldn’t be any left in the world for the fish. Once they’d calmed him down from crying about murdering all the world’s FIIIIIIIIISH, he’d asked for stories about FIIIIIIIIISH. Adam had put his foot down the third time through  _Red Fish, Blue Fish_ , telling Ray that he needed to get some sleep because they were getting up early to go to the aquarium.

He shouldn’t have said ‘getting up early,’ he discovered at roughly five-oh-three the next morning, when Ray slammed his bedroom door open, dragging a nearly-asleep Joel (still clutching his pillow desperately against his face) into the room and flipping the overhead light on.

“It’s morning, Papa!”

Adam groaned. “Is the sun even up yet?” He turned, burying his face into his pillow again.

There was a thud as Ray released Joel’s hand and the man collapsed to the floor, apparently intending to get some more sleep. A rustle and a small foot kicking him in the back as Ray scrambled onto the bed and over top of him, taking the direct route to the window. More rustling and then a gasp as Ray opened the curtain.

“The sun’s up!” He declared, turning and flopping onto the bed next to Adam, beginning to poke him in the shoulders. “Wake up, Papa, and help me get Daddy up again.”

Adam rolled over, swinging his pillow around and letting it flop on top of Ray’s face before he stepped out of bed. Of course Ray would be awake at the crack of dawn on a Saturday. But when Monday came around and they tried to get him up for school, he’d drag his feet and stay in bed so long that they’d be left in a mad rush to get him to his classroom on time.

He nudged Joel with his foot, sighing and looking over his shoulder. “You wake up your dad. I’m going to take a shower.” He instructed, scrubbing a hand against his face and meandering towards the bathroom. He stopped in the kitchen on the way, turning on the coffee pot. At least the smell of coffee would get Joel moving.

Ray attempted to rush the two men through their morning routine, only sitting still long enough to eat his breakfast. He sat impatiently by the front door, watching as Joel checked his e-mail, trying not to swing his feet while Adam tied his shoes for him. “Daddy…” Ray nearly whined, jumping down from the small bench and stomping over to the man on the computer. “Come on, it’s Saturday, you don’t have to do work things!”

“If only that was true, big guy.” Joel muttered, typing quickly and clicking the mouse. He closed the laptop and leaned back, sighing. “Alright, get your coat and I’ll get my shoes and we’ll go. Adam, you driving or am I?” He let his fingers card affectionately through Ray’s hair before he ran off, noting that the boy needed a haircut again and mentally cringing at the memory of tantrums past.

After what seemed like an eternity to the eager young boy, the three finally loaded into the car. After another eternal length of time, Adam finally,  _finally_  pulled into a parking lot. Ray hurriedly undid his seatbelt as soon as the car was off, pushing the door open and jumping out, whipping his head around to stare at the building.

From the outside it wasn’t much to look at and Ray crossed his arms, huffing impatiently. If Dad and Papa had tricked him and taken him to the doctor’s again, he was going to throw the mother of all tantrums…

Joel’s hand settled on his shoulder, leading him around the car and Ray instinctively reached up, taking his hand as they crossed the parking lot. Adam stood on his other side, looking towards the building with a slight frown. “They’re open, right?”

“Website said they open at eight on Saturday’s. So they should be open now.” Joel nodded, holding Ray’s hand tightly as the boy jumped up the slight curb from the parking lot to the sidewalk. The three stepped up to the glass doors, Adam pulling them open for the other two.

Ray stopped dead in his tracks, looking around with widening eyes, his mouth falling open. He inhaled slowly, drawing in a large breath. Joel and Adam barely had time to exchange a glance before the youth let all his air out in a rush of words. “Ohmy _gosh_ DaddyPapalookitalltheFIIIIIIISH! There are so many and oh my gosh they’re so colorful and I want to see  _all of them_  Daddy can I touch a FIIIIISH? Papa can I touch  _two_ FIIIIIIISH? IS THAT A SHARK?!”

“Shouldn’t it be a shaaaaaark?” Joel questioned when Ray finally took a moment to catch his breath again, following after his son towards the displays while Adam hurried to buy their tickets.

“No, don’t be dumb, Dad. It’s a FIIIIIISH, but it’s only s shark. Shaaaaark is dumb.” Ray rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed with the grown man’s inability to understand things.

When Adam caught up to them they made their way out to the aquarium’s main floor, the two grown men allowing themselves to be led around, subject to the ever-changing whims of the bright-eyed boy. Ray rushed from tank to tank, listening intently as the employees gave instructions for each of the touch tanks, squealing with delight when a stingray swam under his hovering palm, its smooth skin ghosting along his. He looked over his shoulder, grinning widely to his dad and papa. “I touched a FIIIIIISH!”

For the first hour or so, things were extremely peaceful—loud and a bit hectic, but peaceful by their standards. Ray moved from exhibit to exhibit, Joel and Adam trailing after, occasionally taking pictures or videos. They stayed in the marine area of the aquarium, though the building also offered sections on birds and reptiles (the birds would have been okay, but there was no way in hell Joel was going anywhere near the reptiles and he wasn’t about to let his son get interested in  _that_ ). When Ray started to slow down, Adam suggested that they go into one of the theaters and watch one of the shows that the aquarium offered. The three found seats near the middle, Ray bouncing excitedly as the show about creatures of the deep sea started.

Fifteen seconds in, his face was buried into Joel’s side, his small frame shaking with fear at the terrifying creatures on the large screen. Joel lifted him easily from his seat, holding the young boy in his lap and stroking his hair gently, murmuring that it was okay because the scary fish lived far away.

“They’re only scary because they look weird to us, Ray. I bet we’d look pretty scary to them, too.”

“I don’t like them and I wanna leave those aren’t FIIIIIISH.” Ray hissed back, squeaking and ducking his face onto Joel’s chest as a larger-than-life anglerfish swam past the screen. Joel stood immediately, taking Ray with him, only pausing long enough to kick Adam lightly in the leg and send him a dirty look before they stepped outside. He shifted Ray in his arms, patting his back comfortingly.

“It’s alright, buddy. Papa didn’t know that it’d scare you when he suggested it is all. You want to see the turtles for a bit?” He set Ray down, crouching next to him and smiling slightly. “Turtles aren’t scary, right?”

The youngster nodded, wiping a hand across his eyes quickly, letting his dad take his hand and lead him over to the turtle exhibit. Adam joined them as Ray was following the instructions to feed one of the giant tortoises, scratching the back of his head slightly. “He alright?”

“He’s over it, yeah.” Joel ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head. “From now on, only the cute fish.”

“Agreed.”

Their meandering trip through the various touch tanks brought them to the octopus tank. Ray hesitated, stepping behind Adam’s legs and looking around him towards the tank, frowning thoughtfully. Adam set a hand on the boy’s head, smiling down at him. “Want to skip this one?”

“What is it?”

“It’s an octopus. Uh… oh, it’s got those suckers on its legs, like the one that keeps your stained glass in your window. And… hrm… sometimes I think they can change colors and I think they can shoot out ink?” Adam glanced over to Joel, sighing when the other man only shrugged. “I don’t know a lot about octopuses…. Octopi?”

Ray inched around Adam’s legs, leaning over the shallow tank and curling his fingers around the rubber lip, looking at the creature within thoughtfully. “Can I touch it?” He questioned, looking up to the employee and getting a nod. He laid his hand flat on the surface of the water, slowly lowering it in.

Joel glanced towards Adam, sharing a smile and a shrug. He didn’t think that Ray would like the octopus, but being proved wrong every now and then wasn’t so bad.

His attention snapped back to his son as he heard a short shriek and a splash, eyes forward in time to see a flash of color and a jet of ink as the octopus disappeared, taking in the sight of his son on his hands and knees in the inky water. The boy shook his head, looking up with a worried glance towards his Dad.

Joel stepped forward quickly, reaching in and lifting Ray from the shallow tank, apologies already on his lips as he set the boy down on dry ground. Adam hurried away to the nearby gift shop, returning with a number of freshly-purchased towels and using them to try to dry Ray off.

No one was really surprised that they left quickly after that, the boy wrapped in towels and shivering slightly from his unplanned swim. The car ride home was mostly silent, Joel tossing Ray’s damp clothes and the new towels into the dryer, falling onto the couch with a sigh. Ray joined him a few minutes later, cleaned up and dried off, looking around in confusion. “Where’d Papa go?”

“He ran out to the store to pick up some dinner.” Joel propped himself on one arm, patting the couch next to him and smiling as Ray immediately hopped up beside him. “You have fun today, squirt?”

“Yeah!” Ray’s eyes lit up with the memories, before he looked down. “You’re not mad I fell in the octopus tank?” He questioned hesitantly, eyes on his twiddling thumbs.

Joel wrapped an arm around him, kissing the top of his head lightly. “Nah. Accidents happen, Ray… There’s no reason to get mad.”

Ray wiggled, turning and looking up at him. “Thanks for taking me to the aquarium, daddy. It was fun.”

“Glad you had fun, big guy. I did too.” Fun, Joel noted, did not mean he’d be making a return trip in the near future. They probably wouldn’t be allowed in, anyways.


End file.
